Choanephora Rot

About the Disease: Choanephora Rot is otherwise called as the blossom end rot. This wet rot disease is very common in plants like squash. This disease occasionally occurs in cucurbits. This will include the pumpkins and muskmelons.

Symptoms: The flowers of these plants is fully covered with the white colored powder Then later on it will be converted into a purple colored or black colored growth of fungus. This is the most obvious symptom that can be seen in the plants. When you look at the blossom part of the plants like squash, you can find that it is rotten and soft. This will also be covered with that white powder or that purple colored powder.

Pathogens: Choanephora cucurbitarum is the main causative agent for this disease.

Time of Occurrence: The fungus can thrive in the crop debris. The disease occurs in wet conditions.

Conditions Favoring Disease: This mainly happens in the wet climate. When there is an overcrowded growth of plants, you can surely expect the appearance of this disease in the cucurbits. Water stagnation may also favor fungal growth.

Disease Management: Since this disease is caused by the fungus, one of the most sensible and the easiest way to destroy the disease is to use the fungicides. These fungicides need not be the broad spectrum ones. They need to exclusively attack the fungus that grows on these plants. But there are two view points to this method. One group considers this as an effective method and the other group feels that it is not an effective method, as new flowers that are susceptible to this disease, keep coming out each day.

Apart from all these traditional methods, one of the best ways to prevent this disease is by following the practice of crop rotation. When you are trying to irrigate the plants, overhead irrigation is not needed to be done. When the plants are grown in an overcrowded state, this will give a chance for the progression of the disease. If you wish to avoid the disease and provide the plants with a healthy environment to thrive, then it is good to grow them apart. There must be proper spacing between the plants. A planning planting must be done to avoid the disease in the crop fields. When you plant them with a proper space, then there will be enough air circulation. The flowers and fruits will always be in dried condition. This will not give chance for the growth of fungus.